Growth of Poverty and Slums in Cities in the Global South - Essay Example

Growth of Poverty and Slums in Cities in the Global South Number Department Introduction and Statistics As per the standards set by the United Nations Development Program Report 2005, the global south is a term used to commonly reference the countries of the world (mostly located in the southern hemisphere) with both medium human development and low human development. Although some countries have not yet provided information sufficient to ascertain their true human development indices, current information holds that a total of 88 countries of the world fall under the medium human development bracket (that is, those with HDI less than 8 but greater than 5) while a further 32 nations exhibit low human development (HDI less than 5). Therefore, out of a total of 197 countries, the global south claims a staggering 133 with these countries located in South and Central America, Africa, Asia (with the exception of Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan), the Middle East (with the exception of Israel) and Mexico (Bhaṭanāgara, 2010, 377). The North-South divide is generally viewed as a socio-economic and political divide where the global north is considered the richer, more developed region and the south the poorer, less developed region. With urbanization on the rise, currently, approximately half of the human population, that is, 3 billion lives in cities (urban areas) as compared to the 1.5 billion who lived in cities 30 years ago (marking the greatest demographic metamorphosis in human existence). The number of cities in the world has more than quadrupled since 1950 with the trend especially relevant in Africa, a continent undergoing an annual urbanization rate of 5% - urbanizing faster than any other world continent (Bhaṭanāgara, 2010, 378). In Africa, 41% of the population lives in the urban region with estimates predicting that by 2030, 6 out of 10 people globally will be living in cities. In 1990, the United States led the world in the number of urban agglomerations (33) but by the year 2020, China is predicted to take over with 131, followed by India with 58. With the half of the world’s population living in cities occupying only about 2.7% of the earth’s land cover, the phenomenon of urbanization still has elephant room for growth (Medeiros, 2013, 87). A great proportion of urban residents in the global south live in slum conditions with statistics indicating almost a billion people live in slums worldwide. This number accounts for a third of the global city dwellers in the global south. In Africa particularly, 70% of the city dwellers live in slum conditions. In Asia and Pacific, 2 out of 5 city residents live in slums, while in Africa it is 3 out of 5. Sub-Saharan Africa itself has approximately 72% of urban residents living in slums. In metro Manila in the Philippines, in 2010, an estimated 37% of the population (over 4 million) lived in slums with an annual slum population growth rate of 8%. Although there are wide differences in different regions of the world, the United Nations predict that by 2020, people living in slums shall have clocked a staggering 1.39 billion (Bush, 2007, 411). Asia, especially South Asia, has the highest number of urban residents living in slums. In 2001, Afghanistan had a whopping 99% of the city population residing in slums with Nepal and Bangladesh with 92% and 855 of urban dwellers living in slum conditions respectively. While the absolute number of slum dwellers around the world continues to soar, in most parts of the globe however, the population of city dwellers living in slums has plummeted from nearly 40% 10 years ago to less than 30% presently. China and India for instance have recently lifted about 125 million people out of slums and North Africa’s slum population has gone down by a fifth. Presently, the proportion of urban population living in slums is highest in Sub-Saharan Africa (61.7%) then in South Asia with 35%, Southeast Asia (31%), East Asia (28.2%), West Asia (24.6%), Oceania (24.1%), Latin America and the Caribbean (23.5%) and North Africa (13.3%), in that order. Among individual countries, as at 2009, the Central African Republic posted the highest percentage of urban dwellers residing in slums (95.9%). The world’s largest slum is currently in Mexico City. Over 9 million people continue to pour into these slums each year. Official estimates show that more than 15 million people across the globe are homeless or living in temporary shelters in cities. This urban growth in the global south has been a result of natural population growth amongst other several factors that are discussed in this essay in greater detail (Bush, 2007, 412). Causes and Growth of Slums in the Global South There exist several demographic, social, economic and political factors that play role in slum proliferations and expansion. These include among others, factors such as increased rural-to-urban migrations, poor planning, economic difficulties, poverty, high unemployment rates, informal economy, colonialism and segregation, politics, natural disasters and social conflicts. Rural-urban migration is perhaps the leading cause of slum proliferation and growth. It is observed that human population in the past decades has soared beyond even the total amount of arable land (even as agriculture only contributes a small percentage of the GDPs). In addition, the fact that agriculture has in time become higher yielding, less disease prone, less physically harsh and more efficient with tractors and other farm machines, the number of people in agriculture has globally drastically dropped by 30% over the last 5 decades alone (Chant & McIlwaine, 2009, 418). This therefore has seen to an unending migration of nurses from rural areas to urban areas in search of more job opportunities, better education standards and a variety of income opportunities other than subsistence farming in rural areas. However, as these rural-urban migrants enter the city, they fail to land jobs due to their lack of skills or the presence of a highly competitive job market. And since most cities do not offer low cost housing, these financially crippled migrants therefore opt for the slums. As this migration continues, the slums continue to grow and expand. In addition to rural-urban migrations for employment, some of the migrants often move because of their connection with relatives or families. Once their family support in urban areas is in slums, these rural-urban migrants also purpose to live with them in the slums (Chant & McIlwaine, 2009, 419). Closely linked to rural-urban migrations is urbanization. At 2008, more than 50% of the world’s population lived in urban areas, and it is predicted that this percentage will increase even further in the consequent decades. In the meantime, a credible UN-Habitat survey indicates that 43% of the urban populations in developing countries and 78% of those in the least developed nations are slum residents. Studies have shown that urbanization results in slums as local governments fail to effectively manage urbanization and migrant workers without affordable residences, opt for the slums. Poor urban infrastructure and insufficient housing are but a few examples of how the government has failed to cope with urbanization. There are simply insufficient funds and lack of experience to handle the challenges posed by urbanization and migration. In many African countries, for instance, the governments have simply decided to overlook the problems of rapid urbanization and migrations. In as much as urbanization enhances economic growth, it also stimulates people to seek working and investment chances in the (new) urban areas (Davis, 2006, 256). Urbanization can be dealt with economic stagnation/ low growth and hence high unemployment rates, insufficient financial resources and inconsistent urban planning policies which in the end mean increased slum prevalence. Urbanization can influence land use by shifting land designated for agricultural purposes to urban land and thus increase land value. There is also a gap period where this land under transition is left unused, neither for agricultural nor urban purposes. What this means is that the income from such land is reduced, thus impacting the owner and locals financially and otherwise. The gap between people’s low income and high land prices leads them to seek/ construct low cost settlements – resulting in slums. This shifting of previously agricultural land into urban land also means surplus labor, as previous peasants are then forced to look for jobs in urban areas (Hunter, 1964, 425). In urban areas too, access to virtually all goods and services depend on having a cash income. Urban residents have to buy most of their food while rural residents grow a substantial portion of their own food and with food prices often higher in urban areas than in the country side, low income people have little or no money left to rent meaningful houses (Davis, 2006, 153). Another important factor that since time immemorial has seen to the continued growth and expansion of slums is the lack of affordable low cost housing and poor planning. A large number of slum dwellers in a country basically reeks a deficiency of practical housing policies. A growing demand for housing mixed with insufficient supply of affordable housing results in slums. Poor housing planning is basically a result of insufficient financial resources and a lack of co-ordination in government bureaucracy. Insufficient financial resources means the government is unable to cater for the improvement of the tenant situation in slums in the annual budgets. Lack of co-ordination among the various sectors in charge of economic development, urban planning and land allocation also promotes slum proliferations across the global south. In addition, the urban poor have become increasingly marginalized in the housing markets where there are only high and middle income housing, with few houses built to sell to them (Mentan, 2014, 98). Colonialism and segregation also played role in the growth of slums in the global south. Colonialists arrived in Africa, for example, and set up urban areas for their financial purposes while temporarily hosting the native Africans in these urban set ups to provide the much needed labor. The housing system for these African workers was poor and predominantly in the form of single-occupancy bed spaces. However, most of these workers found their constant movements back and forth between rural and urban areas costly and time consuming and so their families gradually migrated after them to the urban centers. Slums were consequently birthed as most of them could ill afford to buy houses (Mitlin & Satterthwaite, 2013, 200). The Dharavi slum in Mumbai, presently one of the largest slums in India, was formed as a result of British colonial segregation. The British colonialists expelled all the natives from the city of Bombay (currently Mumbai) into the Dharavi. In time, more poor people moved into Dharavi to find work as servants in colonial offices and homes, and urban industries thus built poor shanty towns which provided close proximity to work. In the meantime, the Dharavi and the surroundings received no colonial supervision or investment in terms of road infrastructure, public services, housing or sanitation and by the time of India’s independence in 1947, Dharavi had become one of the largest slums in the globe (Islam & Tahir, 2000, 324). Other slums in distant parts of the world such as in Nigeria also arose from colonial neglect and policy. In South Africa, for instance, the colonial apartheid policy of racial segregation meant that people of color were moved out of the cities into the townships, resulting in the growth of the Soweto and other slums. Poor infrastructure, social exclusion and economic stagnation are other reasons for the observed slum incidences in the global south. For instance, poor families that cannot afford transportation or lack any form of affordable public transportation have been shown to end up in poor settlements within walking distance or close enough to their respective employments. Surveys indicate that poor quality and unpaved streets encourage slums whereas affordable public transport and economic infrastructure empowers the poor to move and consider housing options other than slums (Mitlin & Satterthwaite, 2013, 300). Also, an active economy that creates jobs faster than the population growth offers opportunity and motivation to relocate from slum dwellings while economic stagnation on the other hand results in uncertainties and risks which only encourages people to stay on the ‘economically safe’ slums. A poor economy increases poverty and rural-urban migrations and consequently slum proliferations. The lack of secure tenure is a chief reason for slum persistence. Without secure tenure, slum residents have few ways and little incentive to improve their environments. It is even more difficult for the urban poor to obtain tenure with the complicated and expensive property registration processes. The process is even more difficult for informal settlements as slums as many governments hesitate to legalize them in fear of encouraging more illegal settlements (Nizami, 2008, 901). A rising informal economy also facilitates the growth of slums with its demand for workers. This is more so in the global south where government laws and regulations are opaque and excessive, government bureaucracy corrupt and abusive of entrepreneurs, labor laws are inflexible and law enforcement is poor causing a faster growth of the informal sector. The urban informal sector accounts for 20-60% of most developing countries’ GDPs. In Benin alone, slum dwellers comprise 75% of the total informal sector workers while they make up 90% of the informal labor force in countries like Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad and Ethiopia. Countries such as these where starting, registering and running a formal business cumbersome tend to encourage informal businesses and thus slums. The solution is a sustainable formal economy that raises incomes and creates employment opportunities (Nizami, 2008, 950). Slum incidence is directly correlated with poverty. The richer the nation, the lower the chances of slums, while on the other hand, the lower the gross national income of the nation, the higher the magnitude of slums. Slums are basically the option for the urban poor and those who arrive from rural areas in search of greener pastures but face difficulties such as lack of access to shelter, basic human services and social amenities. Urban poverty in the global south has effectively promoted the formation and demand for slums (Pryer, 2003, 652). Poverty in the global south has especially been on an alarming rise. There are a combination of several factors and issues which work together to elicit the high poverty rates across the global south. Some of these include (I will just briefly highlight them as they cannot all be delved into in such a short paper) war (which renders a population unable to work for a livelihood), diseases (such as HIV reduce the man power available to work on farms, offices and results in the loss of several man hours and capital used for treatment), declining union influences, poor infrastructure, corruption and embezzlement of public funds (money initially allocated for development purposes constantly lost through fraudulent schemes), economic structures, lack of education (leads to poor decision makings, and lack of employment opportunities), parents leaving the family, increased divorce cases, and teenage pregnancy (effectively suffers one a life of eating from hand to mouth, retards education process of individuals) (Robertson, 2012, 745). Other major causes of poverty in the global south that have been highlighted over time as notorious include domestic abuse, employment abuse, immigration status, minority status, physical and mental illness and disability, loss of job, retrenchments, low wage rates, high medical bills, fraud, oppression, theft of property, disasters (such as those that can destroy one’s business premises), fires, flood, poverty imperative, lack of awareness of government policy, industrial change, apathy, greed, overpopulation, inequality, dictatorships, racism, globalization, social factors, high taxation, high growth rate of population, lack of job opportunities in the secondary sector, lack of land resources, lack of industrialization, overdependence on agriculture, inflationary pressure, unemployment, drug abuse, income inequalities, accidents, stolen money and natural disasters (Robertson, 2012, 823). Politics play key role in the escalation of slums in some areas especially where votes are involved such as the favelas of Brazil, slums of India and the shanty towns of Kenya. In such slums, local and national governments put off slum upgrade programs for purely political reasons. Politics also influences rural-urban migration and ensuing settlement patterns. Pre-existing patronage networks, maybe gangs, political parties, social activists and so on, inside slums, in their quests to maintain their economic, social and political holds promote activities that maintain these slums while rejecting alternate and better housing options. In addition, people escaping political conflicts in the rural areas and smaller cities of such countries as Liberia and Mozambique have contributed to big-city growth rates leading to rapid informal settlements (Slayter, 2003, 645). Slums have also sprouted across the global south due to social conflicts. During the 1975-1990 civil war, thousands of Lebanese people formed slums. Similar events occurred around Kabul in recent years where a plethora of slum dwellings arose to accommodate rural Afghans fleeing Taliban violence. Natural disasters in poor nations such as the global south have also caused slum proliferations by effecting the migrations of affected families to unaffected areas where they set up temporary tent cities and slums or expand existing slums. Examples of slums that arose from natural disasters include the slums near Port-au-Prince following the 2010 Haiti earthquake devastation and the slums close to Dhaka that came after the 2007 Bangladesh cyclone (Wit, 1996, 712). Characteristics and Quality of Life in Slums Basically, a slum can be defined as a heavily populated urban informal settlement featuring poor standard housing and squalor. Slums from one country or region to another differ in size but there exist certain salient and common features. These features include lack of reliable sanitation services/ limited access to proper (adequate) health opportunities, reliable electricity, timely law enforcement, poor education facilities and staff, a general lack of insecurity/ violent and unhealthy environments (burglaries, rape, fires and so on are prevalent), lack of durable housing to protect against climate, lack of access to safe water and in sufficient quantities at affordable prices, insufficient living space with more than 3 people sharing a single room, insecurity of tenure leading to forced evictions, limited access to employment opportunities and income, and so on (Dilworth, 2005, 312). Slums are indicators of poverty and the numerous problems faced therein stem from overpopulation and insufficient government investments. Poor hygiene in slums causes debilitating illnesses to propagate. Toilets and taps are shared. Slum residences vary from shanty houses to professionally built dwellings that have deteriorated into slums due to poor quality design or construction (Scheffran, 2012, 123). Slum dwellers and informal settlers confront on daily basis another aspect of poverty – environmental poverty. The underserviced and bad living conditions in the slums affect health, livelihood and the social fiber. The effects of urban environmental problems and threats of climate change are more common in slums because of their poor location, poor air pollution and solid waste management, and limited coping strategies of households. Poor living environments deepen poverty, increases the vulnerability of both the poor and the non-poor living in slums and effectively excludes the slum poor from growth. Informal land tenure is a key characteristic of urban slums with most slum lands commonly found in the least desirable places that are state owned/ philanthropic trust owned/ religious entity owned/ no clear land titles over which the dwellers lack property rights. As per reports, 51% of slums are based on invasion to private lands in Sub-Saharan Africa, 39% in North Africa and West Asia, 40% in East Asia, 105 in South Asia and 40% in Latin America and the Caribbean. The initial settlers on slums often form a gang-like group which dictates newcomers, charges them fees for the right to live in the slum and decides where and how their houses are built - often in total disregard to building codes. Apart from removing any incentive of slum dwellers to improve to improve their environments, insecure tenure creates difficulty in city-wide infrastructure development such as rapid mass transit, electrical line and sewer pipe layout, highways and roads. Slum dwellings are also often built in places vulnerable to natural disasters such as floods and landslides, toxic congestions, collapsing infrastructure, fires and so on (Dilworth, 2005, 413). Slum dwellers also often face risks of diseases such cholera, HIV/Aids, measles, malaria, dengue, typhoid, drug resistant tuberculosis forms, and other epidemics that spread fast especially in congested populations as slums. Cholera and diarrhea are especially common among children in slums. In addition, a UN report records that in many sub-Saharan African countries, children living in slums are more likely to die from waterborne and respiratory illnesses than rural children (Jha, 1986, 227). On the other hand, despite the numerous dangers, human rights violations and hazards that are associated with slums and their proliferations across the global south, some sections of the society sees them as partly beneficial. A World Bank report reckons that cities in the global south grow so fast since they generate better economic opportunities and possibilities. Wages of people in cities are much higher than the wages of their unskilled rural compatriots. They also see customers in these regions benefiting from the presence of numerous traders and service providers in a small space. The report adds that factories tend to gather together to profit from such high concentrations of labor, skills and from the infrastructure such as housing, transport and ports that cities offer. These factories are beneficial to the overall economy as we know that cities are created by trade and industry. In addition, service businesses such as banks and insurance companies tend to cluster where their customers are. Many also see rural-urban migration as an escape from constraining social and cultural traditions in rural villages. So in as much as slums may be a poor sight, the report holds that it is a visible predicament since it is in the city than what is happening in the rural areas – therefore facilitating speedy tackling of these issues such as poverty that lead to slum proliferations especially in the global south (Williams, Meth & Willis, 2009, 667). Conclusion, Remedies to the Growth of Poverty and Slums in the Global South and Personal Opinion In as much as urbanization truly offers many opportunities especially in the global south, cities therein must develop sustainably in a way capable of maintaining and supporting urban health and environmental wellbeing. The rapid establishment and growth of city slums throughout the global south therefore is of great concern. The slum ailment is spreading across third world nations with a contagious fervor and without understanding the causes and exacerbating factors, this contagion is likely to spread at an untold pace. Lawmakers at the local, city, national and international are called to therefore fully comprehend the specialness of this demographic shift and the implications it has for urban policy design (Colclough, 2012, 469). Some of the other common solutions that have been advanced and tried in other parts of the world to curb this spread and growth of slums have included amongst others, slum removal (though critics maintain that slum removal simply removes the slum but does not remove the causes that create and maintain the slums), slum relocations (for instance where slum dwellers are relocated to better living environments and houses by the government – has worked in Manila in the Philippines, Mjondolo in Durban, South Africa and in Ennakhil, Morocco), slum upgrading (such as the Kibera project in Nairobi, Kenya), urban infrastructure development and improved and low cost public housing) and so on. In addition, apart from being an authentic recognition of their residential status in urban areas, some land tenure can play vital role in encouraging slum dwellers to upgrade their housing facilities and the slum as a whole (Colclough, 2012, 470). References Bhaṭanāgara, M, 2010, Urban slums & poverty, Jaipur, India: Ritu Publications, 377, 378. Bush, R, 2007, Poverty and neoliberalism persistence and reproduction in the global south. London: Pluto, 411, 412. Chant, S. H., & McIlwaine, C, 2009, Geographies of development in the 21st century an introduction to the global south, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 418, 419. Colclough, C, 2012, Education Outcomes and Poverty in the Global South. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 469, 470. Davis, M., 2006, Planet of slums, London: Verso, 256, 153. Dilworth, R., 2005, The urban origins of suburban autonomy, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 312, 413. Hunter, D. R., 1964, The slums; challenge and response, New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 425. Islam, A., & Tahir, M. Z., 2000, Health, population and the environment: knowledge, lessons and challenges, Karachi, Pakistan: Dept. of Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, 324. Jha, S. S., 1986, Structure of urban poverty: the case of Bombay slums, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 227. Medeiros, B., 2013, Touring poverty, London: Routledge, 87. Mentan, T., 2014, Africa Facing Human Security Challenges in the 21st Century, Oxford: Langaa RPCIG, 98. Mitlin, D., & Satterthwaite, D., 2013, Urban poverty in the global South: scale and nature, New York: Routledge, 200, 300. Nizami, S., 2008, Rehabilitation of slums in urban areas: challenges and experiences, Hyderabad, India: Icfai University Press, 901, 950. Pryer, J., 2003, Poverty and vulnerability in Dhaka slums: the urban livelihood study, Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate, 652. 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